China produces over 70% of the world’s sex toys, so it is not surprising that the Adult Products International trade fair opened in Shanghai in April. Chinese firms are inventing new ways of integrating AI with sex toys, creating the new field of “teledildonics.” Vibrator pulses and suction pumps can adapt their intensity in response to voice commands or in response to AI chatbots representing a menu of different partner types. New apps use machine learning to interpret adult videos and translate them into pressure, speed, and pulse pattern changes. Pornography remains technically illegal in China, so these devices are intended for the foreign market.
Of course, new technologies are not foolproof: Irish regulators have required the recall of a remote-controlled sex toy after reports that parts could become detached during use.
